Chapter Summaries

Lu Xiangcheng led the Heavenly Might Army against Ao Bai’s Solun Death Soldiers, whose strength matched his forces in a massive battle. Hong Chengchou recognized the Revival Army as the greater future threat and considered withdrawing to Hanzhong if he could not defend Qin Territory.

• Hu Dawei reported that Ao Bai’s seventy thousand Solun Death Soldiers had sealed the mountain pass, and Lu Xiangcheng ordered his army to advance and summoned Hong Chengchou to join him.
• Lu Xiangcheng arrived with 130,000 Heavenly Might Army soldiers, formed the Five Elements Endless Cycle Formation, and sent Yang Guozhu’s vanguard to hold the line.
• Lu Xiangcheng activated the formation, creating a Fire Qilin that charged Ao Bai’s Azure Heavenly Wolf; the two six-hundred-zhang beasts fought to a standstill.
• The battle’s shockwaves forced Yang Guozhu’s vanguard back toward Jiang Xiang’s Datong Army, whose soldiers realized they could not match the Solun Death Soldiers.
• Hong Yuanfeng told Hong Chengchou that his 230,000 personal guard soldiers could at best draw against Ao Bai’s force, and Hong Chengchou worried about facing Li Dingguo’s Revival Army.
• Hong Yuanfeng suggested retreating to Hanzhong Prefecture if Qin Territory could not be held, and Hong Chengchou stopped him while approving of the plan.

Hong Chengchou’s reinforcements helped Lu Xiangcheng destroy Ao Bai’s 70,000 Solun Tribe death squad after Ao Bai dissolved their formation and fled alone. As the Ming armies advanced on the Qingshui River, Huang Taiji ordered his remaining troops to swim across while he and Ao Bai stayed behind to guard their retreat.

• Hong Yuanfeng led 230,000 Imperial Guard soldiers in a Military Killing Formation to assist Lu Xiangcheng, and their combined forces overwhelmed Ao Bai’s army.
• Ao Bai feigned an attack, dissolved the Solun Tribe formation, and escaped, leaving all 70,000 soldiers to be killed by Lu Xiangcheng and Hong Yuanfeng’s attacks.
• Hong Chengchou ordered his troops to charge toward the Qingshui River, while Lu Xiangcheng and Hong Yuanfeng led their formations in pursuit of Huang Taiji’s remaining forces.
• Ao Bai returned to Huang Taiji and reported the defeat, then proposed that the remaining soldiers swim across the river to escape the advancing Ming armies.
• Huang Taiji ordered his troops and Spirit Beast Warhorses into the Qingshui River while he and Ao Bai stayed behind with a Bordered Yellow Banner Ten Thousand Man Squad to guard the retreat.

Hong Chengchou revealed that he had arranged fleets along the rivers to prevent Huang Taiji's army from escaping without a fight. His fleet pursued the Later Jin soldiers across the Qingshui River, where Huang Taiji ordered Hooge to prepare a military formation to meet them.

• Hu Dawei reported that Huang Taiji had led more than a hundred thousand soldiers underwater across the Qingshui River, while escorting Treasure Ships prevented pursuit by the Great Peacocks.
• Hong Chengchou told Lu Xiangcheng that he had stationed fleets on the Qingshui River and other routes to speed the army's movements and intercept the retreating Tartars.
• A fleet led by Butler Hong arrived, and Lu Xiangcheng and Hong Chengchou quickly boarded their troops and set out toward Yanqing Prefecture City.
• Yanguli warned Huang Taiji that the Ming fleet would soon catch the more than a hundred thousand soldiers still swimming toward shore.
• Huang Taiji ordered Yanguli to tell Hooge to form up at the dock and prepare to fight the approaching fleet, while he planned to join the battle with his shipborne soldiers.

Hooge and Huang Taiji prepared the Later Jin host to meet Lu Xiangcheng and Hong Chengchou’s advancing Great Ming forces, while Hooge was tasked with threatening the enemy’s two Emerald Feathered Great Peacocks. The armies clashed on the water in a fierce, evenly matched battle, leaving both sides locked in a deadlock.

• Hooge ordered Sunahai to alert Tuerge and Amin and prepare the soldiers, while Yanguli warned that Hooge’s Hou Yi Bow was their best defense against the two Great Peacocks.
• Hu Dawei reported that Later Jin forces were waiting near Yanqing Prefecture City, and Lu Xiangcheng decided to attack rather than let their reinforcements reach shore.
• Lu Xiangcheng and Hong Chengchou ordered their commanders to form ranks and draw out the battle until the Tartar soldiers’ Qi and Blood Power was depleted, with the Treasure Ships ready to fire.
• The Great Ming divisions launched their Military Killing Formations as Huang Taiji led the Later Jin formations onto the water to meet them.
• The two armies’ Divine Beast Phantoms collided, and the evenly matched formations—including those led by Lu Xiangcheng, Hong Chengchou, Huang Taiji, and Ao Bai—fell into a fierce deadlock.

Lu Xiangcheng and Hong Chengchou’s forces exhausted Huang Taiji’s army in a formation clash, then devastated the barbarians as they came ashore with a fleet barrage. Hooge nearly killed Hu Dawei and the two Great Peacocks with hidden arrows, prompting Lu Xiangcheng to order caution and prepare for the next confrontation.

• Huang Taiji, Lu Xiangcheng, and Hong Chengchou withdrew their depleted Military Killing Formations after neither side gained an advantage.
• Zuo Liangyu and Yang Guozhu led more than a hundred Great Treasure Ships in a surprise attack on the exhausted Later Jin and Mongol soldiers at the Grand Wharf, killing nearly all of the roughly 160,000 who had crossed the river.
• Hooge fired three Rapid Fire Arrows at Hu Dawei and the two Great Peacocks, but Hu Dawei deflected them and recognized Hooge as the attacker.
• Hu Dawei reported that Hooge’s longbow might be a Natal Divine Artifact, and Lu Xiangcheng ordered him to scout from above three thousand zhang.
• Lu Xiangcheng ordered the army to recover and the fleet to wait on the river, then went to consult Hong Chengchou about their next plan.

After suffering heavy losses, Huang Taiji retreated through the pass to Liaodong, while Lu Xiangcheng and Hong Chengchou recovered the occupied towns. Hong Chengchou persuaded Lu Xiangcheng to secretly raid Tatar tribes for Spirit Beast Warhorses and trade them for supplies, leaving them to build elite cavalry forces together.

• Huang Taiji counted his remaining troops, recognized the danger of fighting Lu Xiangcheng and Hong Chengchou further, and ordered his army to prepare to retreat north through the pass.
• Hooge relayed Huang Taiji's order to travel light and leave for Liaodong at dawn, while the Great Ming armies kept their distance and avoided another battle.
• Huang Taiji's six hundred thousand soldiers marched rapidly through the pass, outrunning Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangcheng's pursuing forces and reaching Dushikou Fortress without being caught.
• Hong Chengchou proposed that Lu Xiangcheng raid Tatar tribes Beyond the Pass for Spirit Beast Warhorses, which Hong's Qin Army would exchange for grain and supplies.
• Lu Xiangcheng agreed, and the two commanders spent two days secretly settling the terms before Hong Chengchou led his army back toward the interior.

Wei Jinfan and He Guang discovered that Huang Taiji had escaped beyond the Great Wall, so the Revival Army abandoned its pursuit and prepared a new offensive against Great Ming. Red Plum ordered the army to attack territories west of the Fen River, while Huang Taiji vowed to destroy the Revival Army in a future war.

• Wei Jinfan told He Guang that Huang Taiji had led six hundred thousand troops beyond the pass and could no longer be caught.
• Wei Jinfan explained that the Revival Army had anticipated the escape and would instead attack Jin Province and Qin Territory.
• Huang Taiji escaped the pursuing scouts and vowed to destroy the Revival Army when war began again at the end of next winter.
• Wei Jinfan reported Huang Taiji's escape to Red Plum, who decided that pursuing his army would be too risky.
• Red Plum ordered the Revival Army to divide into six routes and attack the regions west of the Fen River in Xuanfu and Datong Prefecture.

Li Dingguo and Wan'er began a surprise attack on the Fuqing Ye Family, intending to destroy the clan and seize its treasures. The Ye Family’s leaders were gathered to announce Ye Guodong as the next family head when the attackers descended on their residence.

• Li Dingguo and Wan'er flew ahead of their fleet toward Fuqing City and planned to strike the Ye Family before it could prepare or flee.
• Li Dingguo assigned Wan'er to attack the main residence while he sought the strongest enemy, and ordered Great Golden Eagle and Big Fierce to kill anyone escaping.
• Great Golden Eagle sensed the strongest enemy’s location and led Big Fierce in a rapid dive toward the Ye Family’s grand hall.
• At the Ye Family council meeting, Zhou Leyue praised Ye Guodong for transplanting the Big Red Robe Tree with the Hundred Herbs Chart and for strengthening the family.
• Ye Xianggao prepared to announce Ye Guodong as his successor, while Ye Guodong’s cultivation and the family’s elders had advanced through the tree’s tea leaves.

Ye Xianggao named Ye Guodong the next Lineage Head, but Li Dingguo and Wan'er launched a surprise attack and destroyed the Ye Lineage's leadership. After Li Dingguo and Wan'er ordered a massacre of the entire estate, the Revival Army arrived in Fuqing City and began plundering its treasures.

• Ye Xianggao passed the position of next Lineage Head to Ye Guodong, who accepted before the council hall was attacked.
• Wan'er smashed the council hall with the Overturning Heaven Seal, killing most of those inside, while Li Dingguo struck with the Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell and took Ye Guodong's Hundred Herbs Chart.
• Wan'er killed Ye Xianggao, Ye Guodong, and the other surviving Ye Lineage experts with another strike of the Overturning Heaven Seal, and Li Dingguo burned away their remains.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er ordered the extermination of the Ye Lineage estate, while Great Golden Eagle and Big Fierce helped slaughter its inhabitants and block escape.
• After about half an hour, Li Dingguo found no signs of life across the estate, and the two Great Golden Eagles kept Fuqing City's skies under guard.
• The Revival Army's fleet arrived at the dock outside Fuqing City, and ten thousand soldiers entered the city to plunder the Ye Lineage's possessions.

Wan'er refined the cleansed scroll into the Hundred Herbs Chart, an upgradeable Innate Space Artifact that housed a Da Hong Pao tea tree whose leaves could transform cultivators. After planning to use the chart to cultivate spirit roots and improve their cultivation, Li Dingguo and Wan'er went to the Ye Family treasure vault and began collecting its riches.

• Li Dingguo discovered that the purified scroll was an Innate Space Artifact and gave it to Wan'er to refine.
• Wan'er refined the scroll into the Hundred Herbs Chart and learned it contained an Innate High-Grade Da Hong Pao tea tree with leaves that could cleanse the divine soul and improve Spirit Bodies.
• Wan'er explained that the chart could upgrade as it stored spirit roots, and she planned to place her Golden Bodhi Tree and other spirit trees inside it.
• Wan'er proposed that she and Li Dingguo use the tea leaves after returning to their base to advance their cultivation and Spirit Bodies.
• Huang Rong reported that the Ye Family's treasure vault had been found and led Li Dingguo and Wan'er to it.
• Li Dingguo began using the Human Emperor Cauldron to collect the Ye Family's vast stores of treasures.

After returning from the destruction of the Ye Lineage, Li Dingguo and Wan'er flew north to join the campaign in Dengzhou and Laizhou. They arrived just after He Lijing and Little Stone captured Laizhou Prefectural City, and the Revival Army prepared to invade Dengzhou next.

• Wan'er and Li Dingguo agreed to send Big Fierce with the fleet while they rode Big Gold back to Lingshan Island, and Wan'er planned to help seize Dengzhou, Laizhou, and their coastal islands.
• He Lijing and Little Stone captured Laizhou Prefectural City after three days of fighting and exterminated the enemy Martial Artists gathered there.
• Red Plum ordered Little Stone to clear the city, watch for enemy communications, and prepare the army for the next offensive.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er arrived at Laizhou Prefectural City, where He Lijing reported that the whole prefecture had fallen to the Revival Army.
• Li Dingguo, Wan'er, and He Lijing entered the City Lord's Mansion to refine their plans for the attack on Dengzhou.

Li Dingguo sent the Revival Army’s 190,000 soldiers by sea to attack Dengzhou Prefecture City while Wan'er went to join the Eastern Army in southern Dengzhou. As the fleet sailed, Yang Wenyue learned that the undermanned Ming forces had little chance of resisting the approaching Revival Army.

• Li Dingguo and Wan'er agreed to delay their cultivation breakthroughs, split command of the campaign, and prioritize taking Dengzhou and Laizhou.
• Li Dingguo warned Wan'er not to attack the pirate force founded by Geng Jingzhong, Geng Zhongming, and Kong Youde until he could join her, and sent Big Green to monitor them with Mo Xiaoyong.
• Wan'er rode Little Green toward Laiyang City, while Li Dingguo boarded the flagship with Little Stone and led the fleet carrying 190,000 Revival Army soldiers east toward Dengzhou Prefecture City.
• Yang Wenyue angrily complained to Wu Jieyou that Liu Zeqing had not returned from Northwest Shanxi and had taken Shandong's elite soldiers with him.
• Yang Wenyue recognized that his 30,000 inexperienced Governor's Standard Battalion could not stop the Revival Army's assault.

Yang Wenyue prepared Dengzhou City for the Revival Army’s attack while arranging for his young sons to escape if the city fell. Li Dingguo’s fleet reached Dengzhou and prepared to bombard its northern water gate, beginning the siege.

• Yang Wenyue ordered Yang Tianyou to keep the Governor’s Standard Battalion alert and demand supplies from the city’s wealthy families.
• Yang Wenyue sent Wu Bo to take Yang Tai and Yang Shan to safety and warned them not to seek revenge against Li Dingguo.
• Yang Wenyue told Yang Tianyou that the Revival Army had nearly conquered Laizhou and ordered him to monitor Dengzhou’s northern water gate.
• Li Dingguo’s fleet arrived off Dengzhou after eight days at sea, and he ordered the ships to prepare a concentrated attack on the city’s Guardian Great Array.
• Li Dingguo ordered He Lijing to organize the Military Killing Formation for a swift assault once the city fell.

Yang Wenyue and Chen Hongfan prepared Dengzhou Prefecture City for a siege by Li Dingguo’s Revival Army, while Yang Wenyue sent his nephew Yang Tianyou away to preserve the Yang family line. After the city’s protective array fell under cannon fire, the Revival Army’s killing formations routed the defenders, leaving Yang Wenyue and Chen Hongfan facing the collapse of their forces.

• Chen Hongfan warned Yang Wenyue about the Revival Army’s powerful fleet and cannons, but Yang Wenyue insisted the city’s defenses and gathered Martial Artists could hold.
• Yang Tianyou told Yang Wenyue that Wu Jieyou had fled the city with Yang Wenyue’s sons, and Yang Wenyue ordered his nephew to escape and protect the family’s heirs.
• Yang Wenyue took command of his Governor’s Standard Battalion as the Revival Army opened fire on Dengzhou Prefecture City’s protective array.
• After three rounds of concentrated cannon fire shattered the array, Li Dingguo, He Lijing, and Little Stone activated their killing formations and sent their manifestations against the defenders.
• Li Dingguo’s Mysterious Yellow Great Bell destroyed a formation of more than ten thousand Household Guards, causing the irregular army to panic and flee while Yang Wenyue and Chen Hongfan watched in despair.

Li Dingguo’s forces shattered Dengzhou Prefecture City’s defenders and captured the city after a day and night of pursuit and cleansing. Chen Hongfan and some other enemies escaped, and Li Dingguo prepared to campaign against the pirate group led by Geng Zhongming and other Han traitors.

• Yang Wenyue led thirty thousand soldiers against Li Dingguo’s formation, but they were destroyed in one exchange and Yang Wenyue was killed.
• Chen Hongfan fled toward the river while Li Dingguo’s forces slaughtered the Household Guards; nearly fifty thousand government soldiers surrendered.
• Li Dingguo, Little Stone, and He Lijing led a day-and-night operation that exterminated hostile forces and secured Dengzhou Prefecture City, though Chen Hongfan and over a hundred commanders escaped.
• Little Stone reported the city’s fall and the enemy escapees, and Li Dingguo ordered him and He Lijing to advance into nearby towns.
• Li Dingguo planned to leave with Great Gold to join Wan'er and destroy the pirate group formed by Geng Zhongming, Geng Jingzhong, Kong Youde, Jia Huiqin, and Jia Huizhi.

Wan'er captured Aoshan Guard City and joined Li Dingguo in preparing to strike Tianheng Island before the pirate force there could escape. As the fleet sailed out, they discussed the unexplained retreat of Demon Beast clans and the possible link to the world's reviving spiritual energy.

• Wan'er led one hundred thousand recruits in a surprise assault that captured Aoshan Guard City, then learned from Mo Xiaoyong that the pirates on Tianheng Island were preparing to flee.
• Li Dingguo arrived and reported that his army had defeated the forces at Dengzhou Prefecture City, though Chen Hongfan and several thousand soldiers had escaped.
• Li Dingguo ordered an immediate fleet attack on Tianheng Island, and Wan'er left ten thousand recruits to secure Aoshan Guard City before embarking with the remaining ninety thousand.
• Mo Xiaoyong flew ahead on the Great Goshawk to monitor the pirates as the fleet sailed toward Tianheng Island.
• Wan'er told Li Dingguo that Sea Beast clans had left nearshore waters, and he said Demon Beast clans on land had also grown quiet, possibly because spiritual energy was reviving.

Jiang Shouzhong entered a haunted wedding procession and tried to rescue Jiang Yi, who transformed into Qu Hongling in a vision and stabbed him. The story then shifted to Qu Hongling waking from a nightmare and forming an alliance with Jiang Que to compete for the position of Jiang Mo’s principal wife.

• Jiang Shouzhong watched a Bride Monster die after he refused to enter her sealed room, then found a statue of Empress Red Demon inside.
• A Paper Figure dressed Jiang Shouzhong and his dog in paper clothes and led them to the Tomb Master’s wedding, where Jiang Shouzhong saw a divine statue resembling Qu Hongling.
• Jiang Shouzhong fought the dancing brides and cut the threads lifting Jiang Yi, but Jiang Yi’s face changed into Qu Hongling’s before she stabbed him in the chest.
• Qu Hongling woke from a nightmare and told Jiang Que that she and Ran Qingchen had fought after entering illusions in the Divine Prison.
• Jiang Que proposed that she and Qu Hongling form an alliance to help her become Jiang Mo’s principal wife, and the two began discussing a massage routine.

Li Dingguo and Wan'er defeated the pirate leaders on Tianheng Island, seized Geng Jingzhong's divine pearls, and eliminated the remaining pirates. They chose the island as a naval base and planned to give the captured artifact to Red Plum, while Wan'er revealed how her Jade Purification Bottle and Hundred Herbs Chart could nurture spirit roots.

• Li Dingguo used the Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell to disrupt Geng Jingzhong and seized his twelve Sea Stabilizing Divine Pearls with the Human Emperor Cauldron.
• Wan'er killed Geng Jingzhong, Geng Zhongming, and Kong Youde with the Overturning Heaven Seal, and Li Dingguo burned away their remains and souls.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er led the Revival Army in exterminating the pirates on Tianheng Island, then screened the civilians and executed several thousand criminals.
• Wan'er proposed using Tianheng Island and its nearby islands as a naval base, and Li Dingguo agreed to station one hundred thousand soldiers there.
• Wan'er explained that the Jade Purification Bottle produced Three Light Divine Water that could accelerate spirit-root growth, and she chose to keep it alongside the Hundred Herbs Chart and Overturning Heaven Seal.
• Wan'er suggested giving Geng Jingzhong's captured pearl artifact set to Red Plum and later seeking the Mysterious Primordial Water Control Banner for Xiangzi.

Jiangnan's great noble families agreed to use the Zheng Family as a weapon against Li Dingguo and the Revival Army. Meanwhile, Li Dingguo and Wan'er strengthened their new naval base and planned to eliminate the Zheng Family and the White Barbarians after securing Qi-Lu.

• Xu Hongji gathered representatives of Jiangnan's ten great noble families to discuss the threat posed by Li Dingguo and the Revival Army.
• Xie Yiqing proposed recommending Zheng Zhilong as Shandong General Soldier and his brothers as deputy generals so the Zheng Family would fight Li Dingguo; the representatives approved the plan.
• Li Dingguo set up Island Protection Arrays on Tianheng Island and three nearby islands, establishing a naval base for the Revival Army.
• Wan'er reported that the army's fleet had grown to more than six hundred Great Treasure Ships, including more Peak-Grade and High-Grade ships than any rival coastal force.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er agreed to target the Yuegang Zheng Family and the White Barbarians in Haojing after taking all of Qi-Lu, then planned to return Beyond the Pass to advance their cultivation.

Cao Wenzhao fled Mayi City after Red Plum defeated his army, while Hong Chengchou reacted to the Revival Army’s rapid expansion by abandoning the territory west of the Fen River and returning to defend Qin Territory. The chapter left the Ming forces preparing to hold the eastern riverbanks as Hong Chengchou petitioned the court to appoint Sun Chuanting to Jin Province.

• Red Plum’s army captured Mayi City, and Cao Wenzhao escaped across the Sanggan River with his fleet after losing nearly ten thousand soldiers.
• Cao Wenzhao regretted driving Cao Bianjiao from the Cao Family Army, while Cao Sheng urged him to avoid Red Plum until Lu Xiangcheng arrived.
• Hong Chengchou learned that the Revival Army had taken the towns west of the Sanggan River and discussed withdrawing his main force to Chang'an with Hong Yuanfeng.
• Hong Chengchou agreed to leave Jin Province’s defenses to Zuo Liangyu and other generals, and recommended Sun Chuanting to guard the province.
• After arranging defenses east of the Fen River, Hong Chengchou led 230,000 guard soldiers back toward Qin Territory aboard Great Treasure Ships.